Hey you guys ... how much are you SOLO ACOUSTIC acts getting paid for a 3-hour show in your neck of the woods? Anybody wanna talk about it or, is it too 'taboo' to let your brothers know.I'll tell you it sucks here in west central Florida. $75 - $100 per night.

That would be kinda OK (but not really) if ya didn't have to schlepppp yer own PA around with you. I have to have a VERY decent sound system (on sticks) where each speaker (2) weighs 60 lbs ... that's a 15" with 2" horn and 40lbs for the power amp & processors rack. That's a lot of weight to be lifting up then tearin' it down.

I freak out for my wrists, elbows and shoulders - EVERY TIME. Ya can't hire someone to do it because then ya gotta pay 'em at least $15 bucks to bring it in from out of the van then, pay him again to break it down and load it up at the end of the night. There goes yer bottom line.

A smaller PA does not do you justice. As a songwriter and lifelong performer, I learned long ago that 1st impressions are always that There IS NO 2nd chance in this business. So when you come first time into a new club, you'd better look, feel and sound GREAT. Again, all I'm saying is ... aging sucks.

The roots duo I am in charges a $200 minimum And they damn well better give us a spot to park!@@#$% a pain in MiamiMy drum kit fits in 3 bags ,plus a little tube amp I use for harp and my slide guitar I also use the little amp to mic the bass drum if necessary I use one channel on the pa for a mic and my partner uses 2 for his guitjo or guitar and 1 for his micWe used to use 2 fishsticks which were good but have now gone a mackie set up with 4 12's

Pay scale in South florida sucks too and there are less venues to play every year it seems.

goldbrick wrote:The roots duo I am in charges a $200 minimum And they damn well better give us a spot to park!@@#$% a pain in MiamiMy drum kit fits in 3 bags ,plus a little tube amp I use for harp and my slide guitar I also use the little amp to mic the bass drum if necessary I use one channel on the pa for a mic and my partner uses 2 for his guitjo or guitar and 1 for his micWe used to use 2 fishsticks which were good but have now gone a mackie set up with 4 12's

Pay scale in South florida sucks too and there are less venues to play every year it seems.

Mornin' Goldbrick ... I wish I DID have a duo partner ... it would really make the work load easier all the way around. Problem here in the Clearwater area is even though there's a ton of huge talent, everybody's got the 'answer' on how to do things to succeed musically ... well - Bullshit!!! Why haven't ya done it already then???

Even worse, there are only a thimble full of players who'll do authentic Blues without Mustang Sally or SRV or a 'band in a box' full of hokey beach music. That's my undoing here in Florida as a musician ... I won't cheat on the Blues.

If I could find a guy or guys who've walked in my shoes, it would be different. Those guys are all in NY or LA, Nashville or Austin ... career guys, like me, who've wasted their lives pursuing a dream. They ain't here in "God's waiting room". Waah wah wah wah ...

Its tough out there. We manage to find an audience, most surprisingly with college kids and European tourists. The locals generally don't give a rats ass about early blues, jazz and Hank /Merle Travis country that we play >round hear lots of DJ, Latin and crap imitation Buffett with backing tracks is the majority

We did have a good gig last night and picked up a private party and a university Halloween festival so we just keep pluggin' along